About Us

Shanna Batten, JD

Shanna Batten joined CHHS in early 2017 as the Program Director for the Community Resilience Initiatives program. She has extensive experience in counterterrorism investigations as well as domestic and international efforts to prevent ideologically-influenced violence. In 2016, Ms. Batten served as legal advisor on the joint federal (DHS-DOJ) Task Force to Counter Violent Extremism, where she was the primary contact for international counterparts and civil society organizations engaged in community resilience efforts. Additionally, she has collaborated with institutions such as the U.S. Department of State and the Institute of Strategic Dialogue to develop policy initiatives and programmatics to prevent ideologically-influenced violence and to support multi-level (federal, state, local, and nongovernment), multi-disciplinary, and cross-sector efforts to do the same.

As a senior attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Batten specialized in providing strategic legal and investigative assistance to domestic and foreign authorities in Central and South America, Western Europe, and Western Africa. In this capacity, she regularly convened bi-lateral meetings with the Attorney General, foreign ministers of justice, ambassadors and other dignitaries and officials. Her portfolio included investigations involving charges such as cyber intrusion, public corruption, white collar fraud, and violent offenses.

Previously, she had a noteworthy career as a violent crimes prosecutor in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, responsible for investigating and prosecuting serious felonies ranging from gang crimes to sexual assault and murder.

Ms. Batten graduated from Duke University in 1992, majoring in Public Policy and Political Science. She received her law degree from the University of Virginia, School of Law. During law school, she served on the editorial board of the Journal of Law & Policy, worked on federal appeals through the Capital Case Clinic, and was awarded public interest fellowships to clerk with the ACLU’s Office of Legislative Affairs (Washington, DC) and the Youth Law Center, a public interest law firm focused on impact litigation (San Francisco, CA).

Ms. Batten consistently has been committed to community empowerment and is a passionate advocate for youth. Her commitment is reflected in her longstanding involvement with community organizations–on both the east and west coasts–- as volunteer, mentor, and trainer, as well as her service on the boards of several non-profit organizations.

At CHHS, Ms. Batten is focused on collaborating with local communities to implement sustainable, community-led frameworks. She has overseen the development of the CORE (Communities Organized for Resilience and Empowerment), an innovative framework and multi-tiered curriculum, designed to enhance localities’ capabilities and capacities to prevent ideologically-influenced violence. By merging emergency management, public health, and collective impact methodologies, she hopes to empower localities to build and to maximize authentically community-led violence prevention efforts.

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About CHHS

The University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security (CHHS) is a non-profit consulting group and academic center committed to maximizing organizational resilience before, during and after an emergency event.